55 Yard Line

DC Tim Tibesar leaves Montreal for Purdue

The Montreal Alouettes have seen plenty of attrition in the coaching ranks this offseason, with offensive coordinator Scott Milanovich and offensive line coach Jonathan Himebauch both bolting for Toronto promotions in December (and Himebauch may be on the move again). That attrition continued Tuesday with reports from Didier Orméjuste and Herb Zurkowsky that Alouettes' defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar would be leaving to accept an equivalent position at Purdue University. It's a reasonable move for Tibesar, as he'll probably be paid more at a NCAA FBS school like Purdue and his prospects for advancement may also be higher; he just finished his first year as a CFL DC and his defence struggled down the stretch last season, so he may not have had a long leash in Montreal.. However, especially when combined with the rest of their recent attrition, this does make things a little difficult for the Alouettes.

As we've previously noted here, offseason coaching moves are all about timing. The eight-team structure of the CFL means that the supply of assistant coaches with high-level experience in the league is extremely limited, and many of the top candidates on the move tend to find jobs early in the offseason. There aren't a lot of top candidates left for Montreal to go after, particularly as Hamilton has apparently nabbed Winnipeg linebackers coach Casey Creehan as their new defensive coordinator. That doesn't mean they're without options, as the Alouettes could tab an internal candidate like defensive line coach Mike Sinclair (who has spent four seasons with the team and is presumably well-acquainted with their defensive systems), or they could bring in someone looking for a promotion (like Argonauts' special-teams coach Mike O'Shea), someone without a current CFL job (like former Roughriders' head coach/Tiger-Cats' defensive coordinator Greg Marshall or former Roughriders' defensive coordinator Gary Etcheverry) or someone from south of the border. Barring the hire of a candidate like Marshall or Etcheverry, though, it looks like Montreal will enter the 2012 season not only on short preparation, but with new coordinators on each side of the ball who haven't held CFL positions at that level before.